Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:
I semi-enjoyed this late ’80s film from writer-director Mike Hodges. It’s a thriller with supernatural trappings that’s perhaps most notable for its setting: the fetid, chipped-paint American South of Flannery O’Connor. (It was filmed in Charlotte, North Carolina.) The screenplay is kind of a botch — the bit of corporate intrigue at the movie’s center never amounts to much, and Hodges’ interest in the supernatural slowly curdles into an anti-religion polemic. But the tone is impressively controlled: the movie never breaks a sweat, even as its temperature rises to crisis levels. (That’s Hodges’ forte, isn’t it? He’s cool as a freezer-burned cucumber.) The presence of the youngish Rosanna Arquette is another plus. Hodges puts big Hitchcockian quotes around her: one moment she’s a white-garbed priestess whose elfin features suggest innocence and purity, the next she’s a bodacious trollop in black lingerie (yes, there’s a brief nude scene). I suppose it’s possible Hodges intends this dichotomy to evoke some aspect of the Eternal Feminine, and he definitely wants to suggest an alternative to patriarchy, but I mostly appreciated it for its hawtness.
Related:
- Unfortunately, the print used for the DVD is a real stinker.
- Arquette is one of my fave actress crushes. Bless her for taking off her clothes in so many movies.
Blowhard, Esq.
Callowman
Sherbrooke
Eddie Pensier
Enzo Nakamura
Epaminondas
Fabrizio del Wrongo
Fenster
Brundle Guy
Glynn Marshes
Paleo Retiree
Atypical Neurotic
Question Lady
Sax von Stroheim
Sir Barken Hyena
The Mistaken
Uncouth Reflections 
>>But the tone is impressively controlled: the movie never breaks a sweat, even as its temperature rises to crisis levels. (That’s Hodges’ forte, isn’t it? He’s cool as a freezer-burned cucumber.)
Yeah, nailed it, I think. The only Hodges movie I’ve seen in CROUPIER but that describes it to a tee. I need to check out more of his stuff.
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“Get Carter” kind of needs to be seen. But my fave of his, somewhat unconventionally, is “Flash Gordon,” which wrings lots of interesting effects out of its combo of camp look and deadpan handling.
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Ugh, I know, I *do* need to see CARTER. If it’s streaming on Netflix I’ll watch it this weekend.
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Watched and enjoyed GET CARTER last night. Sure, we can talk about the compressed, cramped mise en scene but Britt Ekland and Geraldine Moffat.
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Funny how hot Rosanna was for so many years, given what a bad actress she generally was. Plus there were things about her I didn’t like — whenever she tried to be really emotional she got plain ugly and unappealing, IMHO. Still: hot hot hot. Hard to explain. When *will* someone bring out “The Wrong Man” on Blu-Ray?
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Tarantino uses that unappealing quality pretty well in “Pulp Fiction.” She’s shrill and hectoring — the wife from hell. I have been looking for “The Wrong Man” for years and still no luck. She had an amazing bod.
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She’s hot as hell in that TV movie thing with Tommy Lee Jones, the name of which I’m too buzzed to remember at the present time.
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